The apple company holds a strong code of conduct, to which it also expects the suppliers in the different parts of the world to comply. The major or rather the biggest part of the code of ethics is the adherence to the international standards of social and environmental care, and the laws or rules of conduct in the operating country. The Apple is a global company. As such, its suppliers need to operate within the laws of the countries, in which they operate. At the same time, the suppliers need to observe some of the international rules of justices and fair treatment. Since the world is constantly changing, the laws or rather the rules regarding the code of conduct keeps changing. The changes, however, are not severe. They just make the coexistence of the Apple suppliers with the residents, workers and customers better (Clarke & Boersma, 2017).
The Apple retain the right to pay its suppliers surprise visits. The company can send its representative or hire an external monitor to monitor the operation of the suppliers. Cases of non-adherence to the code of conduct can lead to the termination of the supplier’ contract. As such, the company will keep making visits, with notice on some occasions and without notice on others. This will keep the suppliers on their toes, when it comes to observing the code of conduct (Clarke & Boersma, 2017).
The minimum age of employment keeps changing in different countries, the United States of America being one of these countries. As such, the laws or rather the code regarding the employment of minors keeps changing with time. To this effect, the Apple Company has adjusted the code of conduct for the suppliers, regarding this essential part.
The suppliers shall not employ children under the age of 15 or the minimum age of employment in the countries, in which they operate. In case the two situations do not apply, the suppliers should not employ any minor who has not reached the age, at which a child would complete the compulsory education, in the country, which they operate (Hartman, DesJardins & MacDonald 2014). As such, if the compulsory education would require the children to complete at the age of 16, then the supplier should not employ any minor, below the age of 16.
With the application of the above code of conduct, it means that it is possible to employ a minor, who is above the minimum employment age but below the age of majority. As such, these kind of workers needs protection. They should get proper remunerations as well as protection from dangerous activities (Hartman, DesJardins & MacDonald 2014).
The Apple suppliers should observe and treat employees, customers and other stakeholders with dignity and respect. They should not have inhumane treatment of workers. The human rights are universal. Therefore, they apply in most of the countries. For example, the human rights regarding the rights of association. The workers can join workers unions or other forms of unions without the restrictions of the employer suppliers (Myers & Fellow, 2014).
The suppliers should not employ discriminative measures while hiring or treating their workers. They should not discriminate the workers because of their race, sexual orientation, gender, union membership, age, color, political affiliation, religion, gender or any other forms of discriminations (Myers & Fellow, 2014).
Therefore, the employees will not undergo medical tests as qualifications of employment, unless the task, for which the supplier employs them, requires such medical tests. The suppliers will employ workers regardless of their health status. The supplier should also not require the employees to take pregnancy tests for job chances. As such, job opportunities, promotion opportunities, training opportunities, salary increments and benefits will be available for the fair sharing among the employees. Such opportunity will not be available on basis of biased or discriminatory standards (Myers & Fellow, 2014).
The suppliers will not apply methods to force the laborers or rather the employees to work for them. As such, methods like copral punishments, mental coercion, physical coercion and other methods, which the employers can use to coerce the employees to work, are against the code of conduct for the company. As such, the suppliers will not employ any form of slave labor, forced, prison or bonded form of labor in their labor force. Employees will also retain all their government-issued identification documents after and during the employment (Myers & Fellow, 2014).
In case a third party is involved in supplying labor for the supplier, the supplier should ensure that the third party adheres to the rules regarding involuntary labor. As such, the supplier will not present ignorance as an excuse for employing involuntary or forced labor.
In conclusion, the suppliers should adjust their code of conduct to meet the changes in the Apples code of conduct. The major changes are in relation to prevention of child labor, protection of juvenile workers, observance of human rights, antidiscrimination code, and prevention of human trafficking and involuntary labor (Myers & Fellow, 2014).
